


The Music of Blood

by buzzbuzz34



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, The Slaughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 13:56:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20797718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: Spoilers for Episode 155!Melanie successfully severs her connection to the Institute and the Beholding, but now there is nothing holding the Slaughter back.  She feels it itching in her skull and hears the music of the pipes in her dreams, and she fears that she won't be able to control it for long.





	The Music of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a theory I've seen going around that, without the Eye looking out for Melanie, the Slaughter that's still lingering will take her over entirely and my favorite line in the show "I still hear the music in my dreams"

There were still a lot of things Melanie had to get used to now that she was blind. The sudden difficulties of navigating around Georgie’s flat, even though she’d been there many times before, were infuriating, and particularly so when she attempted to sneak out of the bedroom without Georgie knowing and instead smacked her knee into the dresser. Hadn’t it been another two steps to it? Her head wasn’t in the best place to begin with, and that only increased as her leg started throbbing and she heard Georgie grumbling sleepily.

“Melanie? You alright?” Georgie called. “It’s early.”

“I’m sorry I woke you up. I… missed. Go back to sleep.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” she lied.

Georgie sighed. She knew Melanie well enough to recognize when she was lying, and she was lying through her teeth. 

“Baby, please. What’s going on?” Melanie could hear her stepping closer and felt her hand take her own, tugging her back to bed. “Just, sit and talk to me. Please.”

Melanie obliged hesitantly and hovered on the edge of the bed. Georgie was a short distance away, and Melanie could practically feel the worry radiating off of her. 

“Listen, I… it’s not safe for you to be around me.”

“What does that mean? You think some fear monster is going to come after you?”

“No. I think that I might hurt you.”

Georgie breathed heavily and carefully set a hand on Melanie’s arm, sliding a little closer to her. 

“I don’t understand,” she said quietly.

“You remember the bullet in my leg that was pumping the Slaughter into me, yeah? Just because it got taken out, it’s still _there_. I think the Archives were, like, protecting me from it? And now that I’m not there, the Slaughter’s back,” Melanie explained, not sure it made sense when she spoke it aloud. But she knew it. She could _feel _it, pulsing through her. 

“Why do you say that?”

“I hear it,” Melanie said with a shiver up her spine. “I hear the pipes. There’s music when I sleep. You know, at first, I didn’t think much of it – I’d just cut my damn eyes out, there was sure to be some weirdness going on in my head, but… The last few nights, I’ve been dreaming of the awl I used. It’s in my hands, it’s right there, I can feel it and see it. 

“Obviously it hurt when I… did it.” She gestured vaguely in front of her eyes. “But there was a… rush, too. I’ve been in enough scrapes to recognize adrenaline, and this was something else. This was something I felt when the bullet was at its worst. It’s an itch, a desire, a _thrill_, and I felt that more than any of the pain. And last night, I dreamt of when I… I had the awl, I was in the Archives, and in the midst of… everything. But I didn’t feel the pain this time. Just that gnawing urge for blood.”

Georgie’s grip on her arm tightened a little, but she waited for Melanie to finish, rubbing her finger along her skin as some modicum of comfort.

Melanie continued, “When I woke up, I could swear I had the awl in my hands. It was _there_. And I could feel the blood all over my hands. It was like I was back there, but this time, that damn music kept building in my ears, getting louder and louder. I’d never heard it when I was awake before. 

“I don’t know if I can fight it back, Georgie, I don’t know how long I can drown it out, and I will not have you hurt because I can’t control myself. I was trying to sneak out without waking you, but I misplaced the stupid dresser…”

“Melanie, it’s… I trust you, okay? We can figure something out.” Georgie squeezed Melanie’s wrist before shifting so that she could pull her entirely into her arms. “At the very least, you don’t need to sneak around, alright? If you… really want to go, then we can find somewhere safe for you, get yourself settled before you just run off. But… first, maybe we can try and find some solution, some way around this.”

Melanie leaned into Georgie, but she felt little reassurance from the words or the gesture. “I guess. We can… take a little time, try to figure something out. But I can’t, I _won’t_, hurt you, and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to fend it off.”

“If anyone _is_ strong enough, I know it’s you.”

They sat in silence for a moment, holding tightly to each other. But as Melanie moved her hand away to brush a hair from her face, she couldn’t deny the wetness in her palm, the dripping of a blood that wasn’t there. And then, quietly, just barely audible, she heard the Slaughter’s pipes again – the music from her dreams. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!!  
Check out more of my writing at kellanswritingblog.tumblr.com or come chat at my personal, celsidebottom.tumblr.com <3


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